"But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and {there is} nothing in his hand." — Ecclesiastes 5:14

Ecclesiastes 5:14 · KJV

“But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and {there is} nothing in his hand.”

— Ecclesiastes 5:14

There is a sore evil {which} I have seen under the sun, {namely}, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

Ecclesiastes 5 — Context

The sleep of a labouring man {is} sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

There is a sore evil {which} I have seen under the sun, {namely}, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and {there is} nothing in his hand.

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

And this also {is} a sore evil, {that} in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

Cross References

Ecclesiastes 2:26

For {God} giveth to a man that {is} good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to {him that is} good before God. This also {is} vanity and vexation of spirit. {in his...: Heb. before him}

Proverbs 23:5

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for {riches} certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. {set...: Heb. cause thine eyes to fly upon}

Matthew 6:19-20

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Haggai 2:16-17

Since those {days} were, when {one} came to an heap of twenty {measures}, there were {but} ten: when {one} came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty {vessels} out of the press, there were {but} twenty.

Haggai 1:9

Ye looked for much, and, lo, {it came} to little; and when ye brought {it} home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that {is} waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. {blow...: or, blow it away}

Job 20:15-29

He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

Job 5:5

Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

Psalms 109:9-12

Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.